Working a Slurry Tanker on Rolling Hills

Creating silage

On Dorrigo Plateau there has been an unusual amount of rain this year, 68 inches (1,727mm) so far, so Scott takes every chance he can to feed the new growth of silage. His cows are fed mainly on grass and then silage for four or five months of the year. Right now, it is a change season when he’ll switch from kikuyu to rye grass and oats, so he’ll follow up the planting with slurry to get the nutrients back into the soil and give his new growth a kick-start.

Working on sloped ground

And even though there has been more rain than usual, once the sun comes out, his 10,000 litre slurry tanker has not had any issues with the rolling hills his farm sits on.  Even though it is carrying 15 tonnes of effluent, he has not seen any damage to his paddocks or tracks. The softer ground did make it more difficult to get to the steeper parts of the paddocks until he learned to start spreading on the flat first and then move up the slope as the tank got lighter. What he really likes is that he can reach his whole farm without any worries. The Rain Wave™ applicator deposits heavy droplets onto the soil, so there is virtually no run off and minimal wind drift.

Better coverage

Before he got the tanker, he had a traveller with 600 metres of mainline, which limited coverage to just 15% of the farm. It was messy and there were always blockages. With the tanker, he is now covering 70% of his farm and he reckons he has reduced his fertiliser cost by 30 to 40 per cent.

Plus, his old system could only be used on rectangular shaped paddocks, which wasn’t a great fit for the topography of his farm. With the Nevada tanker, he can reach even the odd-shaped paddocks.

“The old system could only be used on rectangular paddocks. Now we can weave and duck and do all sorts – it’s a good fit for this farm.”
Scott Connell – Dairy Farmer

Scott came to Nevada because the standard machine had everything on it he wanted. The auto-fill feature and the fact that all four wheels are braked, sealed the deal, it was exactly what he needed for the rolling hills on his farm.

The Nevada auto-fill arm feature stood out for him. With the eight-inch suction, it takes him just three minutes to fill the tanker. He doesn’t have to get out the cab, no mess, no problems, he just fills up, switches on a podcast and starts spreading.

The purchase process was easy too. Scott was worried that getting a machine from NZ would be a bit of a drama, but all it took was one phone call and eight weeks later it rocked up to his farm.

Advice, “Just get into it.”

Scott thinks getting a Nevada tanker has been one of the best decisions he has ever made for his farm. It is not just the cost savings he’s made, it is so simple and easy to use, as well as being fast and efficient. “I’ve had my wife and my teenage daughters use the machine, and they love it.”